"Concordia" Not the First Sunk by Treacherous Reef

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino wasn't the only seaman who drove his ship into the rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio, ripping a huge gash in the hull that sent the 114,500-ton vessel tumbling onto its side.

Before him, other ship commanders had a close encounter with the cursed reefs that jut out off the island's coast.

In fact, more than a dozen ancient ships rest in Giglio's treacherous waters.

One of them, a third-century Roman cargo vessel, lies about 1,000 feet south of the Concordia's bow at a depth of 130 feet.

Loaded with fish sauce-filled jars, the late Roman imperial ship was on the same route followed by Schettino on Jan. 13, when it struck the infamous stretch of rock known as Le Scole....